The field goes still after the sealing. Wind combs the grass in low, tired ripples, and the rune scar sits quiet in the turf.
The Elder stands in Yllamaris’s path, dense as stone against the breeze, his gaze fixed on the hilt at his side. The grey around him looks paling and brittle.
Elder
That blade draws attention like blood in water.
He does not reach for it. He only studies it, grave and unreadable, as if measuring a wound he cannot yet name.
Elowen
You sealed the breach cleanly. Better than I expected.
Elowen lowers her bow at last, her shoulders easing a little. Bram lingers near the wall, watchful but no longer tense, while the distant spire stays only a dark shape on the horizon.
Elowen
If we are going to keep speaking of this like sensible people, now is the moment.
“"'sensible people'? You tried killing me and still followed me... I've been trying to tell you but no one listened. That's why they cast me out. They didn't understand me so they exiled and tried to kill me. Now, either kill me and make them happy or leave me be."”
FAILURE (Fair Persuasion, rolled -3)
Yllamaris
You call that sensible? You tried to kill me, and you still followed. I tried to tell you, but no one listened. That is why they cast me out. They did not understand me, so they exiled me and tried to kill me. Now, kill me and make them happy, or leave me be.
The words hang in the cool field air. Elowen stills completely, her grip tightening on the lowered bow, while the Elder’s stare drops to the quiet rune scar as if it has answered him in silence.
Elowen
Yllamaris... no one here is asking for that.
Elder
Exile is not a sentence from me. It is a wound cut by fear, and fear is often mistaken for justice.
He lifts one hand, not toward Yllamaris, but toward the scar in the turf. The gray in his sleeve flakes like ash, and his expression turns sharper, older, burdened by memory.
Elder
That blade was made to answer the land when it was already sick. If you seal a wound with it, you may be feeding the thing beneath it, not starving it.
Elowen
Then every time he mends a breach, he might be strengthening the rot instead.
Bram shifts at the wall, unsettled. The field stays quiet, but the question now feels like a blade laid flat between them.
“"and you knew of this? Why tell me now after spending years hunting me down?"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +0)
Yllamaris
And you knew of this? Why tell me now after spending years hunting me down?
Elder
Because hunting you was easier than admitting what I feared. We knew the blade was tied to an old wound, and we failed to stop it from being buried in the first place.
Elowen
I was told it was a cursed relic. I was not told it might be the seal itself, or the key to what lies under it.
Elder
Long ago, our order guarded this ground. Then the hunger beneath it began to answer through one weapon, and we hid that truth behind exile and pursuit.
Elowen
Years of chasing him for a lie, and the lie was older than either of us.
Elder
If your blade is feeding the rot, then every use may wake what we failed to bury. That is why I speak now, because silence has already cost too much.
Bram watches from the wall, still and wary, while the sealed rune scar sits between them like a fresh scar in the grass. The quiet feels earned, but not safe.
Quest Complete
Find a safe place to speak with Elowen
Attribute Upgrade: Perception Great→Superb